#shikantaza — Public Fediverse posts

Shikantaza – Nur Sitzen 2v3

Beim Shikantaza müssen Sie so fest verwurzelt und massiv in sich gesammelt sein wie ein Berg. Shikantaza ist ein Zustand erhöhter, konzentrierter Geistes-Gegenwart, in dem man weder überspannt noch in Eile und natürlich niemals schlaff ist.

Shikantaza – Nur Sitzen 1v3

Shikantaza. Nichts anderes als Sitzen. Konzentrierte Geistesgegenwart. Beim Shikantaza, dem Nur-Sitzen, wird die gesamte Aufmerksamkeit vom Sitzen allein beansprucht.

Man sitzt einfach da und läßt kommen, was kommt. Man beobachtet sich nicht, man ist völlig passiv. Es ist ein sehr schwerer Weg, weil er völlig ohne Hilfsmittel gegangen werden muß.

#konzentrierteGeistesgegenwart #Meditation #PaterEnomiyaLassalle #Shikantaza #Sitzen #Wissen #Zazen #Zen #Zettel

#Dōgen Zenji (1200–1253) revolutionized #Japanese #Zen by emphasizing #shikantaza ("just sitting") and the inseparability of #practice and #enlightenment. His #philosophical depth, especially in works like #Shōbōgenzō, shaped #SōtōZen and continues to influence global Buddhist thought. Here is a brief overview of his life and teachings:

🌍 https://www.fabriziomusacchio.com/weekend_stories/told/2025/2025-07-27-dogen_zenji/

#WeekendStories #Buddhism #DōgenZenji

Soto Zen – Heart Sutra / 曹洞宗大本山總持寺 – 般若波羅蜜多心經 – Buddhism Toronto Chanting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De15EaR_irk

Das Herz-Sutra ist ein berühmtes Sutra im Mahāyāna-Buddhismus. Das Herz-Sutra wird oft als die bekannteste und beliebteste buddhistische Schrift überhaupt zitiert. Das Herz-Sutra, das zusammen mit dem Diamant-Sutra zur Kategorie der Vollkommenheit der Weisheit (Prajñāpāramitā) der Literatur des Mahāyāna-Buddhismus gehört, ist vielleicht der prominenteste Vertreter dieses Genres.

In der chinesischen Version des kurzen Textes, der Xuanzang zugeschrieben wird, hat er 260 chinesische Zeichen. Im Englischen besteht er aus sechzehn Sätzen. Damit ist er einer der kürzesten Texte der Gattung „Vollkommene Weisheit“.

Soto-Zen (曹洞宗) ist die größte der drei traditionellen Zen-Sekten des japanischen Buddhismus. Die japanische Variante der Sekte wurde im 13. Jahrhundert von Dogen Zenji eingeführt, der den Caodong-Buddhismus (曹洞宗) im Ausland in China studierte. Das Soto-Zen ist inzwischen auch im Westen populär, und 1996 gründeten Priester der Soto-Zen-Tradition die Soto Zen Buddhist Association mit Sitz in Nordamerika. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf Shikantaza, der Meditation ohne Objekte, Verankerungen oder Inhalte.

Der Meditierende strebt danach, sich des Gedankenstroms bewusst zu sein und ihm zu erlauben, ohne Einmischung zu entstehen und zu vergehen.

#BuddhismTorontoChanting #Buddhismus #Dogen #HerzSutra #Japan #MahayanaBuddhismus #Meditation #Shikantaza #Soto #SotoZen #Zen

Trees

Sometimes I feel that Western philosophy, especially since the Enlightenment, has too often come to resemble the conifer plantations common to commercial forestry: useful, yes, and in their way productive, but almost barren, sterile. On the other hand, the philosophies surrounding Taoism – including Chan Buddhism and its Japanese descendant Zen – seem more like old growth forests, rich in natural diversity, fluid, resilient, fertile.

Of course it would be easy to romanticise such a distinction, as often seemed to happen during the early days of Zen’s growth in the West, and its influence on the Beat movement – Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums being the obvious example. But the partitioning of Western academic philosophy into e.g. metaphysics, philosophy of mind, phenomenology and so on contrasts powerfully with more organic, experiential approaches.

I am no philosopher, needless to say, so in a sense I shouldn’t say such things; but I am someone most of whose intentional (c.f. Daniel Dennett’s idea of the intentional stance!) life has been given to a sort or sorts of contemplative practice, and so in a sense to the attempt at living out of some kind of philosophy or another. Over the years it has become clearer to me that “the Tao as an ontological ground… the One, which is natural, spontaneous, eternal, nameless, and indescribable… at once the beginning of all things and the way in which all things pursue their course” (Wikipedia) is just the simplest, least superstitious way to understand what is to be found in just sitting, apophatic meditation, or what you will. (The Sōtō Zen expression shikantaza, untranslatable as it is, is probably the closest I can get!)

So, sitting still, we can see that the self is not a thing but a pattern, not an object but a movement among the leaves, not other than the way things come and go. Just as sitting still is an entirely pointless thing to do, so too the Tao has no purpose. You couldn’t use it for anything, and yet it is before all that is, and holds the source of the farthest stars. Empty, all it is is inexhaustible.

#contemplative #DanielDennett #JackKerouac #philosophy #practice #shikantaza #Tao

#introduction

I seek comedy and humor wherever I can. Life is too short to take one's self too seriously. Funny account suggestions welcome!

I am a science-loving tree-hugging nerd who enjoys a bit of sport as well.

I like reading Pink Disco Magazine, a fabulous online, literary journal where writers and artists can explore human sexuality. Send your submissions today!

Stay classy friends!

@warandpeas
#HashtagGames #zazen #zen #shikantaza #astronomy #Linux #science #badphotography #dnd

Since I never did a proper #introduction here is quick one.

I mostly look for #comedy and #humor . Suggestions appreciated! @warandpeas is fabulous. I play 9 o'clock #HashtagGames at @hashtaggames.

I like reading and promoting #PinkDiscoMagazine an online, literary journal where the writers submissioms explore human sexuality.

Other things I enjoy: #zazen , #shikantaza ,#astronomy , #Linux , #archeology , and all manner of other #science and #technology posts.

Stay classy, friends.

#3goodthings

- 3 hour car trip with children went okay-ish

- back to #zazen and some #shikantaza

- early bedtime once again!

“This teaching of casting off body and mind articulated by both Hongzhi and Dogen points to the essence of silent illumination, which is simply focusing awareness on the totality of self to return to and enact the bright shining empty field that is our own fundamental nature.”

― Taigen Dan Leighton, Cultivating the Empty Field

#zen #dogen #hongzhi #shikantaza

After doing my zazen this morning, this ku came into my head

sitting in silence
good for nothing?
maybe so

This is in reference to the Zen saying that Koda Sawaki popularized when he said "Zazen is good for nothing"

#haiku #micropoetry #zen #shikantaza

@IAmErik No idea if this is of any benefit, :) but just in case: I have a simple #shikantaza practice, meaning that sometimes I put down the zabuton and zafu, and sit for awhile as thoughts and ideas and things arise and dissipate. Other than attending to the breath as a way to catch myself drifting off into ideation, I have never found anything more systematic to be appealing. Sometimes I have sat in company with a sangha, and that is good, but usually I don’t. It’s all good. :)

Let's see. One thing I haven't talked about much is my #Zen #Buddhist involvement.

Which is entirely appropriate :) since my favorite phrase in this area is "language can't express truth"; but we muddle through anyway.

I have a (by some standards, nonexistent) #shikantaza (and so technically #soto I guess, and I do adore ol' #Dogen) practice, where I sit for some amount of time, watching thoughts and phenomena arise and dissipate, with no particular aim. This is, like, the best thing in the world!

I took part in r/zen for awhile, but it was (and maybe still is) a permanent trashfire dominated by a small group of people with their own bizarre ideas about Zen and an endless appetite for pointless conflict, which is sort of sad.

I don't have a local (or online) #sangha, really. I've done a couple of two or three day retreats at #ZMM , and they were great.

But mostly I just exist, to the limited extent that those words have any meaning. :)

Willing and even eager to discuss all this sort of thing with anyone here who is interested!